A Trip to the Moon: Rate this episode

[felix]

I agree completely! We the viewers want David and Maddie to be together! As Lovers. Not "Pals" or "Best Friends". The direction the show went put a bad taste in all our mouths.

Would it be too much to ask for a happy ending? (Sigh)

[Frontier]

I can relate to all the above posts; this episode is for sure setting up a time-bomb for the show's demise. Maddie is totally out-of-character in every aspect. She has lost her dignity - which is not something that relates to the fact that she is panicking with her relationship with David - and looks like a person that suffers from Altzheimer's disease that has no memory of the events that took place in her life the past three years, especially the ones that involve David.

GGC admits he messed things up, but it's a pity he did nothing to rectify this mess in the rest of the season; instead he made things even worse with the whole Walter storyline.

Bruce's opinion about having sex is completely wrong and shows that either he did not get into the character of David Addison much (I doubt it) and the story of David and Maddie or he did not want to comment on the REAL reasons for the show downhill (which I believe was the fact that there was so much tension on the set of the show).

Overall an energy-hungry, devastating and illogical episode that sets the tone for the season; it's not Moonlighting anymore.

5.

[maddieaddisonjr]

I can add a positive question about this episode. Does anyone else think that Bruce is looking really good in that sweater?? Yowza!

[maddieaddisonjr]

Gee whiz! It’s amazing the about-face I’m doing with this one, but the truth is I’ve just watched ATTTM again and I liked it much more than I did before when I gave it a 5. Now it’s a 7 because of the wonderful acting, plenty of D/M interaction, and a couple of straightforward declarations of love.

This time around I can sympathize with Maddie a bit. I think I was wrong in my first post about her deciding to have a relationship with David and now seeming to inexplicably change her mind. Everything happened to her very quickly. She suddenly had a sharp desire for intimacy with somebody – anybody. Sam whom she knew way-back-when shows up by coincidence and she grabs him – unfortunately for our hero. Sam suddenly offers her marriage (after about two days), something Maddie seems to have wanted eventually but with the right man of course. Well, I have to admit now that Sam and Maddie would have been a safe couple – probably wouldn’t have argued much, probably would have agreed about almost everything. Problem is that Maddie now has to admit to herself that she loves David too because she’s a thinker and she was in the position of having to analyze how she really felt before saying ‘yes’ to Sam.

In IACM she said that Sam deserved better than being with someone that didn’t love only him. Well, if she chose Sam and was faithful, what would be the problem? Does that mean she could never marry anyone else because she loved David? If that’s the case, she’s boxed herself in. She’ll either be with David or no one by that way of thinking. Did David also deserve better than being with someone that didn’t love only him? Was Maddie’s intention not to be with either man; or despite her words, she let Sam go because she actually loved David more?

Hmm, this seems more like a response to IACM! This is what I’m wondering: is Maddie so unhappy and empty inside because although she loves David she just doesn’t feel evenly yoked with him; or because everything from Blonde on Blonde to this episode happened so fast that she feels a loss of choice – like she didn’t actually choose anything but that it all happened to her and she hasn’t had a non-emotionally charged minute to think things through?

Her feelings for David run deep but she’s feeling out-of-control. She doesn’t understand herself – why each time she decides not to be with him but she does so anyway. She’s not sure who she is anymore or what the person she is wants. That can be scary. And David is running with his good thing 160 miles-per-hour so he can’t actually help her. queensgirl said as much in a previous post on I think another thread: In a way he wasn’t really listening to what she was saying. In his desire to preserve his happiness being with her he wasn’t trying to understand. I see why she left. It wasn’t a cold-blooded thing; she was crying on the phone when she finally called him from Chicago.

I still think the shenanigans at Maddie’s door were uninspired and too long. I still think the Ray Charles segment was great.

And I like the Bluemooners shtick. Kudos! They really did mimic the Honeymooners well.

EDITED for correction: The phone call between them was in the next episode.

[nazel]

It's the first time I watch this episode .. & I didn't like it .. Maddie was a real bitch, I mean really too much of a bitch, I don't think the real Maddie is like that .. & David was just too pushy & annoying .. I wished they were both either still denying their feelings or both admitting & accpeting them .. David going crazy for Maddie, & her rejecting him didn't work for me .. I gave it a 7 cause hell, they were still together .. It was still moonlighting, just with a bad plot

[bluemooner]

Nazel, I love your review! :
"I gave it a 7 cause hell, they were still together .. It was still moonlighting, just with a bad plot."

That's how I feel about a lot of the later epsisodes. I've been watching more ML lately and even some of the episodes I used to think of as bad, don't seem so bad to me now. I mean, I don't think I'll ever have anything good to say about Lunar Eclipse, but some of the other "downer" epsiodes, I sort of enjoy now. Maybe it's because I've been watching some new shows and I see that they're really not that good. ML was good, even when it was bad.

[beesnbears]

Nazel and Bluemooner

I like both of your posts!! LOL!!

Totally agree with both of you...........and you are right bluemooner, there has not been another tv show that I have enjoyed as much as ML and I don't think there ever will be.

[joe]

The laundrymat scene, only two people who love each other could make that work. It does'nt matter where you - it only matters who you're with...

[Hazel]

I have to say the commentary on this episode bummed me out. I don't get all the angst about having David profess his love for Maddie in front of the office. He had already told her the night before that he loved her, so no secret there. And IMO, saying it in front of the office was in character, especially the way he did it-- impulsively, but a bit self-consciously when he realized what he was doing, and all for the sake of getting Maddie back. As many times as David acted impulsively and said/did whatever it took to keep her from dissolving Blue Moon, I don't think this declaration was out of line for him, nor did it cause the relationship/character any harm. David put himself out there a lot more than they gave him credit for, and to me this grand gesture made sense. I never questioned it before the commentary. In short, I disagree that David wouldn't/shouldn't have done this, and that instead he would/should have walked away from it. That feels more like a 5th season David move. JMO, YMMV.

[1987]

I agree with you that this declaration was not out of character at all for David. My thoughts on Glenn and Bruce's feelings on it in 2005 are that both guys had recently been through painful divorces and may be a little more cynical about love and 'happily ever after' in 2005 than they were in 1987. That may be a stretch but Glenn obviously wanted David's character passionately in love with Maddie and he has obviously taken heat and criticism for bringing them together. He probably has wondered many times what would have happened if he hadn't turned it into more of a drama.

Both characters certainly had their periods of being 'out of character' but this was not one of them.

[witness]

David is a romantic. In three years, he has gone to great lengths to show Maddie how deeply he cares for and loves her. It was not long before David was putting her happiness above his own. Now he's over the "moon" and wants her to feel as happy to be with him as he is with her.

Given that, how could it be out of character for David to profess being IN love with Maddie in front of the wobblies?

[rose35]

I agree you guys, David was so not out of character! He was afraid i think that he was going to lose Maddie, he may have felt she needs me to show her even more that i love her and what better way than to go over the top the way David did everything and let the world or office know he loved her, even though the office knew this already I ahted the commentary for this one.David was madly in love with Maddie for years ! Maddie annoyed me in this one though LOL Yeah she was nervous about being with David and people finding out but once David said it you saw how Maddie reacted! She melted! but unfortunatlety that didnt last did it?

[dedaved]

Rating: 5

If you squint hard enough while watching A Trip To The Moon you can actually see Glenn Gordon Caron frantically scrambling through his bag of tricks. The backstage turmoil has finally caught up with Moonlighting and this time the side effects will be permanent. But that doesn’t stop this protracted season premiere from trying and hewwww boy does it try! It tries hard! We get Ray Charles, we get Dr. Joyce Brothers, we get The Honeymooners, we get David standing in front of a door for ten minutes engaging in an albeit intentionally desperate monologue that brings David to his lowest point. If you’re going to figuratively neuter a character you can’t deny that a brawl with an imaginary prowler is ONE way to go… I guess. This joyless, dreary exercise in damage control manages little more than laying a troubling groundwork for what will prove to be a very troubling season. Depressing.

[kendraluehr]

I'm kind of surprised that the ratings are high for this one, because this has to be my least favorite episode of the entire series. Maddie and David felt like ghosts of themselves -- it was like watching two complete strangers on my screen. If they'd had the "I love you, but we shouldn't do this," conversation once, then yes, I would be fine with it. But did they need to re-phrase that conversation a bazillion different times?

Though the Honey Mooners bit was creative, I honestly didn't find it funny. They did some great impressions, though. I also didn't like the Ray Charles scene -- not because I don't like his music, but because I felt that was the writers filling up time with some random, over the top dream sequence. And if not that, it was another ploy to grab ratings with a famous celebrity.

The only highlight, IMO, was David telling everyone that he loved Maddie. I felt that was very sweet. And Maddie's face clearly seemed touched by his speech, so why did she turn away from him mere scenes later? The whole monologue in front of the house started off with promise, but after a while I started checking my watch and begging for it to end. I thought the laundromat scene was going to be good, too, but it just ended up being another rehash of earlier conversations. So overall, I give this episode a 3 (and that's only because of David's speech).

[ryangie97]

I'm very late to the party here. I realized I may never have voted on episodes past season 3. Or maybe I did I don't know how to tell but I didn't comment anyway so here goes. I finished a rewatch of the first 3 seasons and have been putting off watching further and instead reading some great fanfiction and the boards here. But alas I gave in and and now making my way through this season. Maybe they'll make better decisions this time around I give this one a 6 actually maybe it's more of a 5 but hey we do get I love yous here. But it is oh so depressing. Knowing what's coming up I wish I had givien every episode before these higher ratings, even the less popular ones, Really the first 3 seasons were just so fantastic and I could just watch them over and over.
Btw, is anyone out there going through these episodes now. I don't know if I handle it alone